As always stated in our report reviews, an essential component of the immigration reform dialogue is information gathering.

Here’s another DHS report, this time on the subject of Permanent Residents, which are usually individuals who reside here via a “green card”. Even though it came out some time ago, it will likely be used as a reference point for politicians in the upcoming immigration reform debate.

A Permanent Resident is specifically defined in the document as follows”

“A legal permanent resident (LPR) or “green card” recipient is defined by immigration law as a person who has been granted lawful permanent residence in the United States. Permanent resident status confers certain rights and responsibilities. For example, LPRs may live and work permanently anywhere in the United States, own property, and attend public schools, colleges, and universities. They may also join certain branches of the Armed Forces, and apply to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain eligibility requirements. This Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Report presents information obtained from applications for LPR status on the number and characteristics of persons who became LPRs in the United States during 2009.”

The introduction by Mr. Monger mentions the basics:

“In 2009, a total of 1,130,818 persons became LPRs of the United States (see Table 1 and Figure 1). The majority of new LPRs (59 percent) already lived in the United States when they were granted lawful permanent residence. Nearly two-thirds were granted permanent resident status based on a family relationship with a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States. The leading countries of birth of new LPRs were Mexico (15 percent), China (6 percent), and the Philippines (5 percent).”

And some of the excerpts are as follows:

Mr. Monger continues, with some information on the newest trends:

“Legal immigration increased 2.1 percent from 1,107,126 in 2008 to 1,130,818 in 2009 (see Table 1). LPR adjustments of status increased 4.2 percent from 640,568 in 2008 to 667,776 in 2009. Adjustments of status in 2009 were driven by a decrease in applications pending a decision rather than an increasing number of applications received during 2009. Fifty-nine percent of new LPRs in 2009 were adjustments of status and 41 percent were new
arrivals (see Table 1).”

He continues, by outlining “Region and Country of birth”:

“The leading regions of birth of persons becoming LPRs in 2009 were Asia (37 percent) and North America (33 percent) (see Table 3). Together, Asia and North America accounted for approximately 70 percent of the LPR flow each year from 2007 to 2009. In 2009, 15 percent of all persons becoming LPRs were born in Mexico. The second leading country of birth was China (5.7 percent), followed by the Philippines (5.3 percent), India (5.1 percent), and the Dominican Republic (4.4 percent). These five countries accounted for 35 percent of all new LPRs in 2009.”

Mr. Monger then summarizes the stats on State and Metro-area of residence:

“California was the state of residence of one-fifth (20 percent) of persons gaining LPR status in 2009 (see Table 4). Other leading states of residence included New York (13 percent), Florida (11 percent), Texas (8.4 percent), and New Jersey (5.2 percent). These five states represented the residence of 58 percent of new LPRs in 2009. The leading metropolitan areas of residence for new LPRs in 2009 were New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA (17 percent) and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA (8.6 percent) (see Table 5). Other prominent locations included Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, and Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI. These five metropolitan areas accounted for the residence of 40 percent of new LPRs in 2009.”

You can download the the very insightful and well-organized report here.

“In summary, DHS estimates that the unauthorized immigrant population living in the United States decreased to 10.8 million in January 2009 from 11.6 million in January 2008. Between 2000 and 2009, the unauthorized population grew by 27 percent. Of all unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in 2009, 63 percent entered before 2000, and 62 percent were from Mexico.”

With a notation on the resulting trends:

“Between January 2008 and January 2009, the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States decreased seven percent from 11.6 million to 10.8 million (see Figure 1). Between 2000 and 2007, the unauthorized population grew by 3.3 million from 8.5 million to 11.8 million. The number of unauthorized residents declined by 1.0 million between 2007 and 2009, coincident with the U.S. economic downturn. The overall annual average increase in the unauthorized population during the 2000-2009 period was 250,000.”

State-by-State numbers are outlined in the paper as follows:

“California remained the leading state of residence of the unauthorized immigrant population in 2009, with 2.6 million (see Table 4 and Appendix 2). The next leading state, Texas, had 1.7 million unauthorized residents, followed by Florida with 720,000,

New York with 550,000, and Illinois with 540,000. California’s share of the national total was 24 percent in 2009 compared to 30 percent in 2000. The greatest percentage increases in the unauthorized population between 2000 and 2009 occurred in Georgia (115 percent), Nevada (55 percent), and Texas (54 percent).”

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